Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

REvuE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RMSTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZETi
Tuesday, October 26, 1993
turkish daily news
Turkey wants to
import Iraqi oil,
survey says
AnatoliaiAssociated
Press
NICOSIA, C~PRUS-Turkey i,s pressing ,the Un,ited
Nations to allow It to import Iraqi Oilas Jordan ISpermIlIed
to do. the ~,1iddle East Economic Survey reported
Monday. , ,
The respected oil industry newsle~ter, published 10
Nicosia. said that Ank~a argues that, !Ike Jorda~, Tur~ey
was Iraditionally a major importer of Oil from nelghbonng
Iraq' and have been badly hurt economically by U.N. sanctions
a!1ainstBaghdad.
Tur~ish officials estimate that the trade embanw,
imposed after Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 19901, lias
cost Ankara some dlrs 3 billion a year in lost trade and revenue
from pumping Iraqi oil by pIpeline to the Ceyhan terminal
on the Mediterranean coast.
Jordan. which depended even more heavily on trade ~it~
Iraq. is allowed to Import some 50,000 barrels of Iraqi Oll
daily bv the U.N. Sanctions Committee.
Wesiern oil industry sources say that Iraq is also trucking
some 3.0.000barrels of oil a day to Iran and some20,000 to
Turkey. apparently in ~'iolati~n~f the sanctions. ,
Howe\'er. MEES dId not mdlcate what volume of Iraqi
oilthe Turks are'seeking.
Turkey closed the oil pipelines from Iraq's Kirkuk fields
when the sanctions were imposed and was a key member of
the U.~,-led coalition opposmg Saddam Hussein.
But m recent months, Turkey has taken a more conciliatory
approach to Iraq and is the only member of the coali.
tion to ha\'e reopened its Baghdad embassy, though at a low
grade.
Although Turkey continu.es .to provide .bases for allied
warplanes policina the "no-fly zone" over the Kurdish controlled
north of fraq, Ankara is also making determined
efforts 10 improve its relations with Baghdad.
Turkey's new prime minister, Tansu Çiller, said in
August her government planned a diplomatiC campaian to
have the oil embargo against Iraq lifted, although!:>she
streesed Ankara planned no unilaterla action on this.
A hi~h-Ievel delegation of Turkish businessmen led by
former mterior minister tsmet Sezgin visited Baghdad last
f"!1onthto discuss ways of boosting trade despittthe sanctIons.
'
Turkey and the United States havé announced that international
sanctions against Iraq must be maintained despite
th~ damage to Turkey's economy from the trade embargo
with Baghdad. The announcement was made in a joint
statement following çiller's visit to the U.S. on October 14-
19,
Emergency rule to be extended
despite opposition from SHP
• National Security Council says forces successful against terror
Turki.~hDlJily News
ANKARA- Overriding opposition from within the ruling
coalition government, Turkey's National Security Council
(MGK) -- made up of military coinmanders and cabinet ministers
-- on Monday decided to advise the government to extend
emergency rule in ten provinces for four more months.
The MGK decision came after the junior coalition partner
Social Democrat Peoples' Party (SHP) leader and Deputy Pri:
me Minister Murat Karayalçm expressed publicly his party's
dissatisfaction with the State of Emergency rule m Southeastern
Anatolia.
'
Katayalçm, who attended Monday's MGK meeting, had
said earlier that emergency law had been of no use to Turkey,
while his party's executives appealed for SHP deputies not to
vote for an automatic extension after November t9.
"The MGK" said in a written statement, that an agreement
had ,been reached for advising the government to extend
emergency law currently in practice.in the provinces of Batman,
Bingöl, Bitlis, Diyarbakir, Hakkari, Mardin, Siirt, ~Irnak,
Tunceli and Van.
Although the MGK, a body Turkey inherited from past mi-
litary coup eras, has no jurisdiction,
its decisions are almost always automatically
endorsed and put into force
by the cabinet. Observers say the
decision on the extension of emergency
rule will be adopted by the
Council of Ministers now, and after
being approved by Parliament, will
go into effect as of Nov.l9. Discussions
on the contents of MGK meetings,
other than on the official statement,
cannot be re~rted under Turkish
law. Monday s statement said
T.urkey's struggle aimed at conta!-
mng the terronsm threat was contInuing
by means of all available methods,
and that it had been established
that the security forces' moral
remained high.
It also noted that the reason for
extending emergency rule was to
continue the struggle within the
principles of a democratic state. In
ItS statement the MGK also thanked
the public for its support to the state
in its struggle against terrorism.
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